Powerful way to boost your immune system and tips to beat holiday stress

Health-E-News December 2016empowering you to optimal health

What Might Be Lurking in your Antibacterial Soap?

You can’t have a clean home without anti-bacterial cleaning products and soaps, right? Actually, it turns out that not only is your anti-bacterial soap is not the best option for sanitizing your skin, but it’s full of tons of active ingredients that aren’t good for you. When you start to read the labels of your anti-bacterial soap, you’ll start to notice a trend: you can’t pronounce any of the ingredients!

That’s likely because these ingredients are harmful, synthetic, and should be nixed right away. If your ingredient list is like reading a novel with words you can barely pronounce, it’s time to rethink what you’re putting on your body. It’s time to switch to natural soaps with ingredients you’re already using in your house. Take a look at what types of things on found in the antibacterial soap you have been using.

What is triclosan?

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is taking notice of the use of triclosan, a prime ingredient found in most hand soaps. According to the FDA, this common hand soap ingredient and over a dozen others are now going to be banned because of their harmful effects.

If you think about how long you’ve been using these products, it can be disturbing to realize that these are now being banned by the US FDA when you’ve already applied them to your skin for many years. Triclosan and other harmful ingredients found in antibacterial soaps are HELPING bacteria to grow!

Understanding the harm in antibacterial soap

It’s important to look at what could be causing bacteria to grow from using antibacterial soap. Apparently over time, the triclosan and other ingredients are making the bacteria more resistant, which leads to mutation and growth. In addition, triclosan is harming the environment when it reaches lakes, streams, soil, and dust in the environment from going down your drain.

Not only is it hurting you, but it’s hurting nature and turning into a dangerous dioxin, similar to a chemical pesticide. For these reasons, it only makes sense that the FDA would ban it from antibacterial soaps.

The good news and the bad news

The good news now is that the FDA is putting a stop to all of this right away, effective the first of the year for 2017, and your family and nature will be able to stay safe from getting this into your home in the future.

Hand soap will be changing their ingredients and other, regular soaps with water are just as effective as brands that spout having antibacterial agents. Now that the harmful chemicals are going to be avoided by the public, hand soaps can start to feature healthier ingredients to keep families safe around the country.

The bad news is that some companies have started replacing the banned triclosan with other ingredients that are actually just as harmful when combined together. While you may not see triclosan on that scary, long list of ingredients, there may be other ingredients listed that you don’t recognize that are just as harmful. The best way to defeat this problem is to stick with organic, natural brands that are using ingredients you’ve actually heard of and you can read the list of ingredients in just a few seconds.

After studying antibacterial soaps since the 70’s, the FDA has finally declared that the active ingredients such as triclosan and 18 others found in these soaps are harmful to people and the environment. With the ban of these ingredients taking place next year, it’s important going forward to choose soaps with ingredients that you recognize before choosing a new brand for your family’s daily use.

Do you know anyone who has experienced or is currently experiencing vertigo? Chiropractic can help.

Vertigo and dizziness are one of the most common reasons for consultation and referral to specialist care. Vertigo is categorized as a sensation of whirling and loss of balance, associated particularly with looking down from a great height, or caused by disease affecting the inner ear or the vestibular nerve. Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is one of the most common causes of vertigo. BPPV occurs when tiny calcium particles (canaliths) clump up in canals of the inner ear. The inner ear sends signals to the brain about head and body movements relative to gravity. Thus when the signal is interrupted, it will lead to BPPV.

A 33-year-old female with BPPV presented to her chiropractor following a failed Epley maneuver, which is performed by the patient’s otolaryngologist (ENT) to help alleviate the symptoms of BPPV. She was prescribed medication, but refused to take it because she was nursing.

Chiropractic care of the patient began during the patient’s most severe episode of BPPV, even making her unable to drive to her appointment. Adjusting techniques were administered, along with cranial adjustments, manual therapy, and massage. Within three visits, the patient was able to drive herself to her visits and her symptoms had greatly improved. By the 14th visit, the patient presented symptom-free.

Take the Stress Out of the Holidays With these 5 Techniques

Are you feeling the pressure of the holidays already? With Thanksgiving and the wild Black Friday behind us, it’s officially crunch time before Christmas and immediately following, New Year’s Eve. Whether you celebrate these holidays or not, you are likely going to get together with loved ones at some point over this holiday season and while it’s an exciting reunion, it also comes with its own stress from the change of pace.

You have to plan out and help cook meals, potentially host visitors in your home, provide gifts to your family, and decorate your home to set the mood for the celebrations. It can get overwhelming in a hurry, especially if you are already busy with life’s daily activities of work, staying healthy, family and children, and other commitments.

You can get through the holidays with little to no stress by following a few tips that will help you keep the stress in check. Take a look at these five techniques to take the stress out of your holiday celebrations.

Put your devices away

It may seem like the perfect time to share your holiday photos on social media, check out your friends’ updates, and stay in touch during this social month. Really what you should do is put the devices away and enjoy the company you’re with in the present.

All of the notifications, text messages, and phone calls are just going to distract you from relaxing with the company you’re with. Instead, turn off the gadgets and check in at a later time. You might find that your New Year’s resolution is to take time away from your devices on a more regular basis because of the stress reduction it allows.

Enjoy the party

Whether you are hosting or attending, sometimes that loud music you love is the perfect way to de-stress. You can put it on while you clean and decorate the house, while hosting dinner, or while attending another party. You’ll find that you may start to feel the music and your blood flow will increase while you feel calmer than ever.

Laugh with your loved ones

If you are worried about how the interactions will go, come up with an activity that will encourage laughter and fun. The best medicine to stress right now is laughter, and a great way to encourage it is through funny games, hilarious Christmas sweaters, and nights out enjoying a comedy show. Make this the time to laugh a little more because you’ll need it!

Give yourself a break

If you’re naturally a perfectionist, let this be the time of year that you give yourself a break. You already have more on your plate than normal with decorating the house, selecting and wrapping gifts, and attending holiday parties with family, friends, colleagues, and more. This is the time to avoid trying to strive for perfection and instead, realizing that the company around you doesn’t care about the details. Be willing to slow down some, cut down on the amount of projects you had planned, and try to enjoy the ride.

Exercise and rest

Lastly, believe it or not, this is the time to incorporate more physical exercise and more relaxation. The exercise will put you in a great mood and make you stronger for all of the work that’s ahead. Try jazzercise or another fun workout like a sleigh ride with the kids and watch as your mood boosts all day long.

On the other hand, it’s the perfect month to take a 4-day weekend before the festivities to let your body and mind relax and re-cooperate. Get the house ready, the decorations up, the parties planned, the gifts wrapped, and then take a mini vacation before attending all of these events. You’ll look and feel refreshed during all of these exciting gatherings that will allow you to make memories for a lifetime.

These five techniques are a sure way to take the stress out of your holiday season.

Chiropractic Care Boost the Immune System

If you’ve ever wondered about better ways to improve your immune system and avoid getting ill, you’re not alone. Many are looking for that trick or magic potion to keep them from getting sick, especially as we approach flu season. While many are getting their annual flu shot and overloading the hand sanitizer at the office, others have learned that it’s actually the perfect time to start making visits to the chiropractor.

If you were worried about stopping into the chiropractor while recovering from a cold, don’t cancel your appointment; this is the perfect way to heal yourself from an illness more quickly. If you want to feel better from an illness you are struggling with or you want to try to avoid getting sick this season, start making regular chiropractic care a top priority as it actually boosts your immune system that fights off illness.

How chiropractic care boosts your immune system

While chiropractor care is about giving your body the adjustment it needs, it’s actually benefiting your immune system at the same time. When your spine is adjusted and nerve interference is removed, a term known as subluxation, it’s helping to regulate your autonomic nervous system.

Why does subluxation happen, causing nerve interference? This can happen from something as serious as a physical trauma or as simple as toxins in the environment or your food. It can even happen from your own thoughts, emotions, or stress. These issues cause interference which means your central nervous system won’t be able to function at full capacity.

Why you need to get to the chiropractor now

Have you ever gone to the chiropractor to treat an issue and then found out that it’s being caused by something completely different? Since the brain, nerves, spinal cord, and a few other elements of your nervous system are controlling your other systems, it’s important to keep this system in check. If you go to the chiropractor for pain, you are likely having adjustments made that will help your nervous system which in turn, corrects the pain you came in for and potentially many other issues.

You don’t want to deal with a nervous system that is not functioning properly since it communicates to the rest of the body. Having a nervous system that is out of whack could impact the rest of your body negatively. Getting to the chiropractor to keep this system in check is the best way to avoid negative effects on the rest of your body, especially when illness strikes. This has been proven time and time again, with patients as young as children getting treated for ear infections, ADD, seizures, and more through chiropractic care.

Make the chiropractor your priority this cold and flu season

With the nervous system and immune system being linked so closely, it makes sense that your immune system won’t be running at top speed when your nervous system is damaged or infected. Your body wants the immune system to help with the healing during a sickness but can’t if your nervous system is running poorly. Fortunately, having chiropractic care will boost your immunity through regular adjustments.

Chiropractors have been shown to improve immunity in those who get regular adjustments, to help patients get extra enzymes which can fight environmental exposures to toxins, and to help HIV positive patients through regular adjustments which can increase number of CD4 cells, the cells that are attacked from the disease. Studies have shown cases of increased enzymes in chiropractic patients which help resist environmental exposures making it a great idea to get adjustments during cold and flu season.

What is the best way to prepare yourself for cold and flu season? Make an appointment with us and boost your immune system through regular chiropractor care this winter.